Tomorrow Is Your Chance To Stand Up To Virginia's $1 Billion Abortion Industry!

Apr 11, 2013

When does David get to face off against Goliath on equal terms? In our democratic process. Tomorrow, at the Virginia Board of Health meeting. That's when volunteer, pro-life grassroots activists will have their chance to express their support for abortion center safety standards in the face of Virginia's $1 billion abortion industry, which is mobilizing college students and protestors to flood the meeting in hopes of intimidating the Board into watering down the proposed health and safety standards.

Please do all you can to join us Friday and show that we are the voice of Virginia. We must show the Board of Health that we are pro-life and we are the majority! This could be a seminal day in the pro-life movement in Virginia.

By voting to adopt the standards tomorrow, the Board will ensure that Virginia's abortion centers will be required to meet basic health and safety standards and will no longer be protected by a veil of secrecy. Showing up and voicing your support of these new standards is extremely important in the fight for life as it is crucial the Board see and hear from pro-life Virginians when deciding on final passage of the regulations.

Please plan to join us tomorrow and forward this link to your pro-life friends and share it on your social media sites. Plan to arrive at the Perimeter Center (9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, 23233) at 7:00 a.m. (earlier if possible) to prevent pro-abortion activists from filling the room and silencing your voice. Seating is very limited, so not everyone will be able to get into the meeting, which is why it's important to arrive early. We encourage you to bring a handmade sign showing your support for life. The public comment period will be in the morning, so if you want to speak in support of the regulations, please prepare a two-minute testimony (you cannot testify if you are not in the room, so you have to be there early to get in line). A final vote will likely take place after lunch, and the meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 3:00.

For a list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Board meeting, click here. Please contact The Family Foundation if you have additional questions (804-343-0010 or vafamily@familyfoundation.org).

The regulations, passed by the Board this past September, would promote safer conditions in Virginia abortion centers, resulting in a higher level of respect and dignity for the women who make the unfortunate choice to get an abortion. Since the announced inspections of Virginia's 20 abortion centers, more than 100 health violations have been discovered. Some of these include:

Voicing your support of these new standards is imperative. Please join us at the Board of Health meeting in Richmond tomorrow. Do not let NARAL and Planned Parenthood speak for Virginians in your silence. Make it known that Virginia is a pro-life state!

Of course, if you cannot attend the meeting, please take time today and tomorrow to pray for the meeting, the outcome, the Board members and for the safety and protection of pro-life activists in attendance.

Voice Your Support for Abortion Center Regulations

Voice Your Support for Abortion Center Regulations

Yesterday, the public comment period opens for the Virginia State Board of Health’s review of the previously passed abortion regulations. Visit here and then click “Enter a Comment” to voice your opinion.

The public comment period on these regulations will be open for 45 days, ending on July 30, and then in its December meeting, the Board of Health will decide whether or not it will rewrite these much needed regulations. It is imperative that the Board leaves these regulations as they are.

Prior to the implementation of regulations in 2012, the Virginia abortion industry had gone unregulated for too long. Department of Health inspections revealed widespread health and safety violations, including blood splattered exam tables and equipment, unsterilized equipment, poorly or untrained staff, violations of state parental consent laws, and the lack of reporting of possible cases of child sexual abuse, along with over 300 other violations. These violations reveal a serious need for regulations of these facilities in order to protect women who seek out abortions.

While focusing on the construction standards included in the regulations, the media has almost completely ignored the blood stained and unsterilized equipment, along with all the other health and safety violations. The construction standards are necessary to improve access for emergency personnel and equipment when medical emergencies take place, but the rest of the standards are basic to any medical facility that puts its patients ahead of its profits.

Recent information that has come to light about Virginia abortion center owner, Dr. Steven Brigham, exemplifies the need for regulations. Brigham’s license to practice medicine has been revoked in five states because of his complete disregard for the safety of women. The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners revoked Brigham’s license declaring, “Dr. Brigham’s continued practice would present clear and imminent danger to the public health, safety, and welfare.” Virginia inspections found gaping holes in the ceiling of his abortion center, unsterilized needles, outrageously high complication rates, and incomplete lifesaving equipment. If an abortion doctor like Steven Brigham can continue to operate two abortion centers here in Virginia, it is clear that the regulations must remain in place to protect the women of Virginia from Brigham’s harmful practices.

It is vital that the Board of Health understands how important health and safety regulations on abortion centers are to the people of Virginia. This can only be done by your participation in the public comment period. Leave your comment encouraging the Board to maintain the regulations as they are and ensure that the voices of pro-woman, pro-life Virginians are heard loud and clear!

40 Days Of Prayer, Fasting And Repentance For Marriage

The Family Foundation is asking that you join us for 40 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Repentance for Marriage from August 27 until October 5, 2014. Our state and nation are mired in a morass of confusion and post-modern thinking that does not believe in absolutes nor that any truth can even be known. Nowhere is this more evident than in the current debate raging about what constitutes marriage. Pagan philosophies, a secular humanist education establishment and an entertainment industry that is absolutely determined in pushing the envelope on decency and morality have all combined to turn this great land into a country that our forefathers could not even begin to recognize.

How did we get here? We must look within and ask, "Have we as believers been the salt and light that Jesus commanded us to be?" So many churches in America have become lukewarm and have lost the ability to impact culture in the way they once did. Our nation, built on a Judeo-Christian foundation, has been greatly blessed by the Lord, but instead of being thankful, we have turned our back on the Lord and His teachings and have and followed after other gods. That is why we are asking you to join us zealously in humility and fasting in repentance before God and implore Him to heal our land.

The Virginia Marriage Amendment, which affirms God's design for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, is being challenged in federal court. Our recently elected Attorney General, Mark Herring, has not only refused to defend Virginia in court, he has joined the plaintiffs in attacking our Marriage Amendment. The issue of marriage is out of the hands of the legislators and the people they represent, and is now in the hands of unelected, unaccountable judges.

The Supreme Court begins its session on October 6. We fully expect it to take a marriage case sometime in the next year. In the natural, it looks like a David vs. Goliath battle. The federal government, the news media, Hollywood, the public education system and big business all are arrayed on the side of same-sex "marriage." Only the church stands in support of God's design for marriage. Our 40 Days will culminate on October 5 just before the court begins its session. We don't know what the Lord will do. We do know that He is sovereign. Whatever happens, we must adopt the attitude of the three Hebrew children who refused to bow before the golden image in Babylon:

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. - Daniel 3:17-18

If you are a pastor, please consider having your church join with us in this effort. The Family Foundation is partnering with other nationally known organizations to provide talking points, sermon outlines, bulletin inserts, video clips and other resources to help you lead your congregation through the 40 Days. We will also send a daily prayer journal to everyone to help guide our prayers and devotions during that time. Click here to be directed to a page where you can sign up as a partnering church in this effort. You also can indicate on that page that you will prayerfully consider partnering with us.

Urge Override Of Governor McAuliffe’s Vetoes!

Urge Override Of Governor McAuliffe’s Vetoes!

Recently, Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed two bills that would protect religious liberty: SB 236, a bill that would protect the free speech rights of public school students; and SB 555, a bill that would have prohibited government censorship of military chaplain sermons. Both passed with large bipartisan majorities, including a unanimous vote in the Senate for SB 555!
The General Assembly will hold its annual "veto session," where it reviews vetoes and amendments to bills, on Wednesday, April 23:

SB 236, patroned by Senator Bill Carrico (R-40, Galax), would create "limited public forums" at certain public school events. Limited public forums restrict the schools from censoring speech simply because it is from a faith perspective. The schools can still "limit" the speech to the matter at hand; for example, a graduation speech still has to be about graduating, but it can contain statements about the importance of faith. The bill also protects students' rights to organize prayer groups, have events such as "see you at the pole" gatherings and wear clothing with religious expressions.

Students in our public schools shouldn't be treated as a second-class citizen simply because their viewpoint is motivated by their faith, regardless of what faith perspective they have. It is tragic that in Virginia, the birthplace of religious freedom, Governor McAuliffe has chosen to listen to the ACLU and has trampled on the right of Virginia's students to simply express their beliefs.

Overriding a governor's veto requires two-thirds support from both chambers, meaning that 27 members of the Senate and 67 members of the House of Delegates have to vote for an override.

At what point do we finally say, enough is enough? Our God-given, inalienable right to exercise our faith, live according to our conscience, and speak truth to culture is in serious jeopardy if we allow people like Terry McAuliffe to dictate what we can and cannot do in the public square.

Your legislators, regardless of party, need to hear from you. They need to know that you are not going to stand for this type of discrimination any longer! Please act today:

Contact your senators and delegates today and ask them to override Governor McAuliffe's vetoes of SB 236 and SB 555 at the upcoming April 23 Veto Session.

Tar Heels Still Beating Virginia

Tar Heels Still Beating Virginia

Governor Terry McAuliffe with assistance from his media allies has spent the better part of his administration carrying the message that Virginia must be a “welcoming” state to successfully attract businesses, and therefore jobs, to the Old Dominion. By “welcoming,” of course, he means disregarding religious liberty, personal privacy and safety, abandoning common sense and imposing McAuliffe’s so-called “progressive” agenda on the Old Dominion.

When North Carolina was ground zero last year for the hysterical left’s latest fear campaign during debate over that state’s effort to protect privacy and dignity, Governor McAuliffe went so far as to invite businesses in NC to move to Virginia.

The latest analysis from Forbes magazine indicates that Mr. McAuliffe’s efforts have done little to help Virginia, while NC’s economy is doing just fine.

Forbes recent list ranking the best states in which to do business found North Carolina at #2, ahead of the Commonwealth's 6th place ranking.

Not a big deal, you say?

How about this. Seven of the top 10 states in Forbes rankings have not caved to the progressive left’s anti-freedom agenda that elevates sexual behavior to protected classification by adding “sexual orientation/gender identity” at the expense of safety, privacy and dignity.

Oh, and while Virginians are learning on a seemingly regular basis that many of Governor McAuliffe’s press releases about new jobs and business to Virginia have been unfulfilled or are just a tiny bit exaggerated, North Carolina has added thousands of jobs, particularly in high tech. In fact, despite the rhetoric that NOVA is the Silicon Valley of the east, Raleigh, NC has seen an over 38 percent increase in tech jobs since 2010, second only to San Francisco in that time period. Charlotte was also in the top 20 list of cities with increased tech jobs. No city in Virginia is on the list. It seems the new economy Terry McAuliffe promised has moved just a little bit down the road, to North Carolina.

Despite the well-funded, cultural elitist driven campaign of fear against North Carolina and the best efforts of Virginia’s salesman-in-chief, the Tar Heel state is crushing Virginia in jobs and business climate.

But wait, you say, the North Carolina governor just lost his race! See, there’s proof that protecting human privacy and dignity are losing issues.

Not so fast. While that race is still being contested, it’s important to note that Republicans that passed the bill the left is hysterically attacking as hateful and bigoted not only kept their seats but actually increased their majority. One state House leader of the bill easily won a seat in the state Senate – in a district near Charlotte, the epicenter of the left’s fear mongering.

If we learned anything from this year’s national election it’s that you really can’t believe anything the national media tells you. Sadly, this has brought about so-called “fake news,” but it also must make you question everything you’ve been told by the media about what’s been happening in North Carolina and the consequences for that state’s economy. The reality is, North Carolina’s economy is booming while Virginia’s remains stagnant and continues to rely too heavily on the federal government.

Virginia’s lawmakers are likely to use the potential defeat of Governor McCrory as reason enough not to defend and protect the privacy and safety of women and children in Virginia. They’ll conveniently argue that such efforts will make Virginia less “welcoming” to business and hurt our economy. In doing so, they will have fallen for the media-driven narrative that makes their fear of taking a stand seem reasonable. The Virginia media and editorial pages will provide all the assistance they need, and they’ll all pat themselves on the back for their pragmatism and vision. But they’ll be wrong, and consequently, jobs will continue to flow to North Carolina instead of our Commonwealth, and the privacy and dignity of women and children will be sacrificed.

Terry's Way

Terry's Way

In its blind haste to protect the $1 billion abortion industry by gutting Virginia’s abortion center health and safety standards, Governor Terry McAuliffe’s administration and his hand-picked members of the Board of Health violated state law that guides the regulatory process multiple times in multiple ways. Of course, considering it’s Terry McAuliffe acting on advice from Mark Herring, this should come as little surprise to anyone. Neither has exhibited much fidelity to the law since being in office.

Consequently, to this point, we’ve blamed the mistakes on the administration’s incompetence and/or complete lack of respect for the law. Perhaps, but if nothing changes, the precedent set could have dramatic consequences.

If allowed to stand, the process the Governor used to pay back the abortion industry could become a model for ignoring long-standing state law that guides what is supposed to provide the public and those being regulated with an abundance of transparency and opportunity for input.

Essentially, the Administrative Process Act (APA) provides agencies and boards with the process to adopt regulations. One of the initial responsibilities of the agency or board involved is to publicly announce what it plans to do – the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action, or NOIRA. In the case of amending existing regulations, like the abortion center health and safety standards, the NOIRA is supposed to provide the public and affected persons notice of what areas of the regulations may be changed. This provides transparency for everyone involved. It’s also the, you know, law. The thing the McAuliffe/Herring regime finds so bothersome.

Thus, in 2014, the initial NOIRA developed by the Department of Health stated that six of the 27 sections of abortion center health and safety standards would be reviewed for potential amendment. This gave interested parties the opportunity to weigh in and make suggestions. But by the time the Board of Health took its final vote on the amendments on Monday, around 20 of the 37 sections of the standards had been changed, and several of those amendments had never been made public or had any public input whatsoever. This is why several Board members objected over and over again to amendments that were “outside the original NOIRA.” They were, in fact, illegal.

Now, let’s reverse this and put it in the context of adding new regulations instead of removing them. The new McAuliffe way provides a path for over-zealous regulators who aren’t interested in or care about the input of those being affected by the regulations. You simply adopt an NOIRA at the start of the process that is very narrow, quietly work the process and then at the very end, drop all the additional regulations you had planned all along but didn’t want the public or those being affected by the regulations to know about. Outside of dotting a few Is and crossing a few Ts, the deal is done. No transparency, no accountability, no problem.

Welcome to Terry’s new Virginia.

Because the issue of abortion has overshadowed the process of providing standards of care for abortion centers, few who don’t otherwise care about “social issues” are likely paying attention, which is exactly why it’s the perfect issue to test run the new process. That said, based on the first three years of his administration, I highly doubt this was all planned. More likely, they tripped into the new process by mistake while simply ignoring the law.

Regardless, if allowed to stand, you can count on this scenario playing out again in the future, only next time some highly disliked industry is going to be the victim. And those who dismiss this instance as “social issues” not to be bothered by will be the ones loudly protesting the unfairness of it all.

Will Board of Health Break the Law?

Will Board of Health Break the Law?

Imagine my surprise late on August 25th to receive an official document published by the Commonwealth of Virginia with the following message.

Yes, you read that correctly. An official state document, drafted by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and released in late August (and drafted on August 10), predicted the future outcome of a vote on abortion center health and safety standards and – shockingly! – the vote will be in Governor Terry McAuliffe’s favor!

Of course, we weren't the only people surprised to read this, members of the Board of Health who don’t plan to favor the Governor’s amendments were surprised as well. Incredibly, the same document did not include a legally required summary of public comment in opposition to the amendments!

When we learned of this, we had to respond quickly. But what to do? Well, we already knew.

On Monday, I told you about a little known commission of the General Assembly, the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules (JCAR). We learned of this commission in recent months and knew it had already been contacted about serious problems with the regulation process so far. So, we immediately sent a letter to JCAR Chairman Frank Wagner (R-7, Virginia Beach) explaining our concerns and the importance of holding a meeting prior to the Board of Health’s scheduled vote tomorrow.

Last week, Senator Wagner responded to our concerns and scheduled the meeting for this morning.

And what a meeting it was! JCAR this morning sent a crystal clear message to VDH -

1) You broke the law, and2) If you vote to approve the amended regulations at tomorrow’s Board of Health meeting, you will be breaking the law.

Limited in power, JCAR did what it can, voting to immediately send a letter to the Board of Health demanding that they provide an explanation for their violations and informing the Board that it cannot legally go forward with a vote it had planned for tomorrow to water down abortion center health and safety requirements.

The JCAR members were outraged at how VDH and the Board of Health (now dominated by Terry McAuliffe’s pro-abortion appointees) published three weeks in advance of its public meeting that it had already voted to approve the regulatory changes! A number of them rightly asked: what’s the point of anybody who opposes the changes even showing up or giving testimony if, as Delegate Scott Lingamfelter (R-31, Woodbridge) put it, “the fix is already in”?

Meanwhile, like a seasoned trial attorney, Senator Ryan McDougle (R-4, Mechanicsville) nailed down the Health Commissioner on how a vote tomorrow by the Board of Health to approve the regulations would be in clear violation of the statutory requirement that all public comments must be summarized and responded to at least five days prior to finalizing the regulations. Senator McDougle literally read the Code section in question to the Commissioner, demanding to know how a vote can happen.

Delegate Tag Greason (R-32, Loudoun) hammered home the point by asking for confirmation that the Commissioner would instruct the Board that any action tomorrow on the regulations would be illegal. Sadly, the Commissioner ultimately would not commit to making a recommendation to delay! Delegate Greason’s questioning of the Commissioner also revealed that the online version of the tainted regulatory document had still not been corrected, less than 24 hours before the Board of Health is scheduled to vote!

In the end, the decision now rests with the Board of Health: vote tomorrow and prove that this has been a sham process from the start, or delay the vote. Even then, however, the other violations of the law by the Board also talked about at today's meeting still prove the process has been a sham. More on that tomorrow.